St. Gerard Campus valedictorian Breanna Mercer addresses the audience at Friday's graduation ceremony. 'My momma always told me to never give up,' Mercer said. 'We have come a long way, and we did not give up.'

Abrieahna Olasode, senior class president of St. Gerard Campus, almost lost her composure at the end of her address at the school’s graduation ceremony Friday night. Almost.

“When I look at my classmates, I don’t just see a group of beautiful girls,” she began, pausing to take a breath, her eyes welling with tears.

Her classmates, as well as the audience of hundreds of family members and friends, reassured her with cheers and applause.

“What I see are future doctors, lawyers, investigators, nurses and business leaders,” Olasode continued. “I see young women who are going to affect the world in a positive way.”

That’s the way it goes at St. Gerard, a nonprofit, faith-based high school and maternity home for pregnant young women.

“These are girls that in some cases, are all alone,” said the school’s founder and executive director, Caroline Wolff, an animated and charismatic woman who everybody calls “Miss Carol.”

“In some cases, when they become pregnant, their family abandons them,” Wolff said. “In other cases, the father of the child abandons her. And sometimes, it’s both.”

Shortly after Wolff came to Florida to retire more than 30 years ago, she met a young, pregnant girl on the street who had no place to go, no one to rely on for help. So she took the girl in. After doing that a few more times, she created St. Gerard, providing free services to women of all ages including pregnancy testing, counseling, baby supplies and an on-campus nursery.

St. Gerard is a now fully-accredited interfaith high school and licensed day care.

“I would probably not have gotten a high school diploma if it weren’t for St. Gerard,” said Destiny Hunt, who was the 2012 class salutatorian. “This school changed my life, gave me hope and a set of goals.”

Hunt glowed as she caressed her little girl, Aaliyah Purington, 11 months, and said she now has plans to continue her education and study photography, as well as attend cosmetology school.

It certainly wasn’t a large graduating class at just 14 girls, but the ceremony, held at Destiny International Church, was well attended, with hundreds of family and friends filling the seats.

“We have one girl here who had 50 family members show up,” Wolff said. “She’s the first in her family to get a diploma, and they’re all very proud.”

When valedictorian Breanna Mercer took the stage, she was greeted with a hearty round of applause.

“My momma always told me to never give up,” Mercer said. “We have come a long way, and we did not give up.”

Well before the graduates received their diplomas, each girl’s child was brought onto the stage and “capped” with a paper hat made to look like a graduation cap. As the children’s names were announced, one by one, the mother got up from the student section and kissed their babies.

“It’s a real tender moment,” Wolff said. “A real tear jerker, but in a good way.”

As she addressed the audience, Wolff made no attempt to hide her emotions.

“I’m so proud of these girls,” she said, noting that 100 percent of her senior class graduated for the third year in a row. “They have accomplished what many others might say they can’t do. They did it, and they have such beautiful babies.”

Wolff also told of a former St. Gerard student, the daughter of St. Johns County school board candidate Tom Rivers, who is set to graduate from law school in January.

“Tom called me and told me,” Wolff said. “He said if it weren’t for St. Gerard, she would never have gone to law school.”

In addition to all the normal classes like history, biology, English and math, every St. Gerard student also takes courses in parenting, life management, family dynamics, child psychology and nutrition, Gleason said.

The campus, which is located on U.S. 1 across from Target, is very small. There is only one classroom. The girls stay in the room, and the teachers rotate in and out. For the babies under two months, there are bassinets in the back. Older children go to the school’s daycare while their mothers are in class.

And it’s no cakewalk, said salutatorian Hunt.

“Oh, they push us pretty hard,” Hunt said. “And it’s not just in our studies, it’s in our whole lives. They’re always asking us what we’re going to to with our lives, what our goals are.”

Throughout the ceremony, babies could be heard crying all over the large hall. But unlike most events, the sound was not seen as an annoyance. It was music to their ears, Wolff said.

“This is not an ordinary school,” Wolff said. “It’s not unusual to see an instructor trying to teach English while holding and comforting a crying baby.”

St. Gerard does not receive any funds from local, state or federal government, and relies solely on donations, grants and fundraiser events, said Maria Gleason, who is director of the school’s pregnancy center in addition to being the grant writer. Gleason said the school, which gets by “on a shoestring budget,” is perpetually in need of more donations.

Volunteers also play an important role at St. Gerard, and Wolff said they’re always looking for more.

“Many of our teachers are volunteers,” Wolff said. “They are all, of course, highly qualified, most with advanced degrees.”

And the solidarity among the girls was evident, too.

“We have grown, not just as friends, but as sisters, and we are all masters of our own destinies,” Mercer said. “I love you all.”

Midway through the ceremony, the PA came to life with “Chariots of Fire.”

“We love ‘Chariots of Fire,’ because it’s about runners who never give up,” Wolff said. “That’s what our girls are — runners who never quit.”

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